Load bearing clipping members are used in many facets of industry and they are used with machinery to provide support, to provide mounting surfaces for harnesses, and to provide structural integrity. Clipping members are configured to have many shapes and sizes and they may be constructed of many material types depending on the environment in which they must perform. Traditionally load bearing members were manufactured from metal but due to fuel efficiency demands and the desire to reduce weight of components, using composite materials and plastics as the base material for load bearing members have become increasingly more in demand.
In the aircraft industry it has been desirable to reduce weight yet maintain or even improve structural integrity of the aircraft by improving how it is fabricated as well as the processes that are employed to manufacture the aircraft. Gas turbine engines are but one component of the aircraft and each such engine has many load bearing structures, such as brackets, that work to connect various systems together. For example, a gas turbine engine traditionally includes a fan casing that circumscribes the compressor, combustor, turbine blades and other components. The fan casing is comprised of a number of concentrically arranged sections that are connected by a series of fastening hardware.
Providing a clipping points for harness attachment by using metal brackets has the disadvantage of adding weight to the engine while affording moderate load carrying capacity. Such designs further do not provide flexibility of tuning the bracket to have specific performance characteristics that may be suitable for multiple clipping locations. It would be helpful to provide an improved load bearing member that is more economical, is made of light weight material, has a stiffening feature for providing enhanced structural integrity, is made by a high capacity manufacturing process, and has improved load capacity characteristics.
The injection molding high capacity manufacturing process allows for alternative geometric shapes not typically used for sheet metal brackets. Thus, it would be helpful to provide an improved stiffening rib design for use with load bearing members so as to provide the benefits that are sought by industry.